CHAPTER XII. 



LOMBOCK: HOW THE KAJAH TOOK THE CENSUS. 



rpHE Rajah of Lorobock was a very wise man, and he 

 showed his wisdom greatly in the way he took the 

 census. For my readers must know that the chief revenues 

 of the Rajah were derived from a head-tax of rice, a small 

 measure being paid annually by every man, woman, and 

 child in the island. There was no doubt that every one 

 paid this tax, for it was a very light one, and the land 

 was fertile and the people well off ; but it had to pass 

 through many hands before it reached the Government 

 storehouses. When the harvest was over the villagers 

 brought their rice to the Kapala kampong, or head of the 

 village; and no doubt he sometimes had compassion on 

 the poor or sick and passed over their short measure, and 

 sometimes was obliged to grant a favour to those who 

 had complaints against him ; and then he must keep up 

 his own dignity by having his granaries better filled than 

 his neighbours, and so the rice that he took to the 

 " Waidono ,: that was over his district was generally a 



